This year, China has an unexpected mascot for the Chinese New Year celebration – Draco Malfoy.
Actor Tom Felton, best known for his role in the Harry Potter film series, is now appearing in some Chinese homes, with holiday decorations featuring his face being sold on e-commerce platforms.
The character’s sudden popularity stems from the Chinese translation of Malfoy’s surname, Ma-er-fu, which contains the characters for “horse” and “luck.” This sounds especially symbolic on the eve of the Year of the Horse.
The Harry Potter franchise is hugely popular in China, with hundreds of millions of books sold there. A 2020 re-release of the first film grossed more than 90 million yuan ($13.6 million) in just three days.
Before celebrating the Chinese New Year, families traditionally decorate their doors with couplets – paired wishes for health, wealth, and prosperity. Another common element of decor is fuzi – red square sheets with the character “prosperity” on them.
Fuzi are usually hung upside down, since the word “upside down” in Chinese has the same pronunciation as the word “arrive”. Thus, they symbolize the arrival of good luck in the house.
On Chinese social networks, users share photos in which, instead of traditional inscriptions, they can see inverted images of Malfoy with his trademark sly smile or festive couplets featuring his portrait.
Sellers on the Taobao platform quickly picked up the trend and began selling stickers and magnets featuring the character from “Harry Potter”. Other users publish his photo with the caption: “Share this image for good luck”.
The Malfoy-style holiday decor didn’t go unnoticed by Tom Felton himself, who shared on Instagram Stories that his character has become “a symbol of Chinese New Year.”